North Carolina has experienced economic growth for four straight years following a recession following 2020, and, as detailed in our article forecasting its 2025 GDP, 2025 is expected to stretch that run to five straight years while adding more than 53,000 net jobs in the process.
While stimulating gross domestic product (GDP), job markets, and business, clean energy investment dollars are not only directly linked to emissions reductions but also help accelerate an all-the-above energy approach. Investments in clean and renewable energy have been and will continue to be a significant driver of the Tar Heel State’s economic expansion.
To better understand how these sustainable sectors will impact North Carolina’s economy and job market and those across the nation, the Rhodium Group and MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR) created the Clean Investment Monitor (CIM). Launched in September 2023, the CIM racks public and private sector investments in clean technologies across the United States.
Photo Courtesy Climate Central
From 2018 through the second quarter of 2024, North Carolina’s $32 billion in clean investments received ranked fifth amongst all states, following California, Texas, Florida, and Georgia, respectively. Investments in zero-emission vehicles garnered 39% of the total in North Carolina, followed closely by heat pumps (38%) and solar (20%).
On the national level, the country experienced a staggering $994 billion of total clean investments from 2018 through June 2024. This was divided among the four regions with the South receiving $428 billion, the West $327 billion, the Midwest $149 billion, and the Northeast $90 billion.
The most recent CIM data from Q4 2023 through Q3 2024 yields a breakdown of the specific sectors receiving these investments within each state, allowing a deeper look into North Carolina’s clean energy investments. The report, which indicates the actual investment by a state as a percent of GDP, has three overarching categories of investment: manufacturing, energy and industry, and retail.
Photo Courtesy Climate Central
For North Carolina, the first is manufacturing, defined as “the construction or expansion of factories that manufacture clean energy, clean vehicle, building electrification, or carbon management technology,” which received 60% of the total clean investments (0.83% of GDP). These investments are further broken down into the following:
- $6.61 billion to Batteries (98% of manufacturing)
- $96.50 million to Zero-Emission Vehicles (1% of manufacturing)
- $30.49 million to Fueling Equipment (0% of manufacturing)
- $122,032 to Solar (0% of manufacturing)
The second, retail, or “individual households and businesses in the purchase and/or installation of clean electricity generation and storage, clean vehicles or building electrification technology,” accounted for 35% of the total (0.49% of GDP), which encompasses the following:
- $2.02 billion to Heat Pumps (51% of retail)
- $1.76 billion to Zero-Emission Vehicles (44% of retail)
- $186.44 million to Distributed Electricity and Storage (5% of retail)
The third and final sector, energy and industry, or “new or existing facilities to produce clean energy, capture carbon dioxide emissions, or decarbonize industrial activity,” received the remaining 5% of the total (0.08% of GDP), which is broken down into the following:
- $244.4 million to Wind (40% of energy and industry)
- $113.52 million to Solar (19% of energy and industry)
- $83.8 million to Storage (14% of energy and industry)
- $167.8 million to Other (28% of energy and industry)
With these investments and according to the UNC Charlotte North Carolina Economic Forecast 2024 Fourth Quarter Report, 2025 looks bright for not just the clean economy but North Carolina’s entire economy as all 15 of the state’s economic sectors are expected to see increased output. The report further forecasts that the state’s GDP will grow 2.3% from its 2024 level. These findings cement the data-backed air of optimism hovering over the not-too-distant future of North Carolina’s clean economy.
